OCTOBER 2011 OCTOBER Working with Youth toward sustainable future Youth as agents of change ț One Young World 2011 OFID joins UN High-level Group on Sustainable Energy Mozambique: pursuing development of natural and human potential OFID Quarterly is published four times a year by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). OFID is the development finance agency established in January 1976 by the Member States of OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) to promote South-South cooperation by extending development assistance to other, non-OPEC developing countries. OFID Quarterly is available free-of-charge. If you wish to be included on the distribution list, please send your full mailing details to the address below. Back issues of the magazine can be found on our website in PDF format. OFID Quarterly welcomes articles and photos on development-related topics, but cannot guarantee publication. 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Box 995, A-1010 Vienna, Austria Tel: (+43-1) 515 64-0; Fax: (+43-1) 513 92-38 Email: [email protected] www.ofid.org EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Mauro Hoyer Romero EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Sam Ifeagwu CONTRIBUTORS Reem Aljarbou, Hala El Sayed, Damelys Delgado, Audrey Haylins, Anna Ilaria-Mayrhofer, Silvia Mateyka, Ranya Nehmeh, Ramina Samii, Mojgan Sanandaji, Fatimah Zwanikken PHOTOGRAPHS Johannes Herberstein (unless otherwise credited) PRODUCTION Susanne Dillinger DESIGN etage.cc/krystian.bieniek PRINTED IN AUSTRIA Stiepan & Partner Druck GmbH COMMENT OCTOBER 2011 Working with Youth toward sustainable future 2 SPECIAL FEATURE Youth as Agents of Change 4 One Young World 10 Voices of Youth, OFID-sponsored delegates speak out 12 Panel Discussion, The Role of Global Business in Society 14 Lindau Foundation holds major meetings 17 OFID Director-General Al-Herbish inducted into Honorary Senate of Lindau Foundation 19 Capacity-building for the youth: a perspective 20 4 OUTREACH Egypt’s blind All-women Chamber Orchestra An-Nour wa l’Amal tours Europe 22 OFID Director-General receives Award from Burkina Faso 23 OFID Diary 24 Meetings attended by OFID 25 136th Governing Board photo gallery 26 Loan signature photo gallery 28 Visitor highlights 30 OFID in the Field 32 Yemen: Educating the young to tackle poverty 34 32 Bolivia: meeting challenges to build a future 36 Mozambique: pursuing development of natural and human potential 38 Palestine: cultivating hope by empowering youth 40 OFID and UNRWA inaugurate new schools for Palestinian refugees 42 DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION OFID joins UN Group on Sustainable Energy for All 43 World Water Week, 2011 45 45 From Deauville to Busan: strengthening support for the MENA Region 47 COVER PHOTO: STRIDER/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM More hands to serve the poor On business adaptation and Corporate Social Responsibility 49 MEMBER STATES FOCUS IR Iran exhibits arts and craft at OFID 51 COMMENT Working with Youth toward sustainable future he more than one billion young people at enhancing the quality of both primary and (age 15-24) who live in our world today secondary education, establishing centers of T – most of them in the developing coun- excellence, and building, rehabilitating and tries – are critical to sustainable development expanding schools, universities and research and inclusive growth. They deserve the close institutions, especially for young women. OFID attention and support of development policy also supports technical, technological, and makers and practitioners, worldwide. vocational training for youth – including a Many obstacles remain to be overcome for vocational training and skills development young people in developing countries to realize project in Yemen, and skills training for mar- their full potential. These include unemploy- ginalized youth in the West Bank. ment, poor health, hunger and malnutrition Particular attention is paid to creating and the digital divide. decent employment opportunities for youth in Helping resolve problems facing youth, the farm and off-farm economies of rural areas particularly in the world’s poorest countries, is in the South- in line with the international at the heart of OFID’s development coopera- goals of full and productive employment and tion efforts. Central to these decent work for all. OFID further efforts are investment in capacity OFID invests enhances food security for youth building and vocational training extensively in the by providing access to resources to build knowledge economies education of future including micro-credit; inputs and help the youth meet the generations to help such as seeds and fertilizers, and requirements of an increasingly foster national com- by providing grant support for competitive job market. These petitiveness and emergency food aid and science and related efforts were stepped employment creation. and agricultural technology edu- up in light of the International Year cation in both urban and rural of the Youth, August 12, 2010 – August 11, 2011. areas. In addition to direct support to agricul- In fostering national competitiveness and ture and rural development – amounting to employment creation, OFID invests extensively US$1.5 billion or 16 percent of OFID’s cumula- in the education of future generations through tive public sector lending – OFID invests heav- various public and private sector schemes aimed ily in rural infrastructure, including roads 2 OFID QUARTERLY OCTOBER 2011 COMMENT and the energy sector, which are essential building, institutional strengthening, techni- for food production and transport, as well as cal support, and measures to support blood private sector growth and employment cre- safety, legal reform, and research and vaccine ation, and Information and Communications development. Technologies (ICTs). Conscious of the impor- Furthermore, OFID sponsors young scien- tance of access to broadband and ICT provision tists and researchers at conferences, workshops for young women and men, OFID is intensify- and similar events, and offers scholarships ing its contributions to improving access to through its special Scholarship Awards. Initia- and use of ICTs for particularly By investing in the health, tives include OFID sponsor- African youth. Activities include ship of 20 young delegates education and computer E-learning on public health in from 20 countries to the First the Gambia and Ghana, in col- literacy of young people, One Young World Summit, Lon- laboration with the World and by offering projects don, February 2010. More Health Organization (WHO). and learning opportunities recently, OFID again spon- OFID is also stepping up its which provide young sored the participation of 25 public and private sector people with crucial skills, young delegates from all devel- financing for the expansion of OFID is working with the oping regions in the second telecommunications – includ- youth of the world to One Young World Summit, ing mobile communications – alleviate poverty. Zurich, Switzerland, Septem- in the South. ber 1-4, 2011. OFID further Poor health remains a major obstacle to sponsored the participation of 66 young econ- empowering and maximizing the potential of omists and researchers from almost 20 develop- youth. Whereas the majority of young people ing countries to attend the July 2011 61st Meet- are healthy, close to two million die each year ing of Nobel Laureates and August 2011 4th from largely preventable causes, including Meeting on Economic Sciences, of the Lindau HIV/AIDS. OFID is a determined partner in the Foundation, Germany. Similar support has been global battle against HIV/AIDS, providing AIDS provided towards the 2009 and 2010 Lindau prevention, treatment, care, and support Meetings, based on the shared ideals and a com- under its Special Grant Account for HIV/AIDS mon vision that human capacity building is Operations. Particular attention is being paid crucial for all societies if they are to escape the to containing the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Sub- vicious circle of illiteracy and poverty. Saharan Africa (SSA), where young women By investing in the health, education, and bear the brunt of the HIV/AIDS burden. Activ- computer literacy of young people, and by ities include grant aid to help reduce the offering projects and learning opportunities impact of HIV/AIDS on young people in which provide young people with crucial skills, Namibia in collaboration with UN AMICAALL. OFID is effectively working with the youth of Other areas of assistance are advocacy, capacity the world to alleviate poverty. ࡯ OFID QUARTERLY OCTOBER 2011 3 SPECIAL FEATURE Youth as Agents of Change Some 1.8 billion people across the world or, roughly, a quarter of the world’s population, are youth or young people aged 15 to 24 years. Almost 85 percent of these youth live in developing countries; a popu- lation set to rise to 89.5 percent by 2025. The majority of them live in Asia (62 percent), followed by Africa (17 percent), where population growth will be fastest. The potential of young people in accelerating the process of sustainable growth and development was highlighted during the International Year of the Youth, which covered the period August 12, 2010 to August 11, 2011. by Fatimah Zwanikken any obstacles remain to be overcome for young people without work reached a record M young people in developing countries to 81.9 million in 2010, or nearly 40 percent of realize their full potential. These